Outdoor lighting can provide an important accent to any yard or garden. A gardener or landscaper may strategically place many lights in a landscape to illuminate walkways and to otherwise enhance the appearance of the landscape at night. Some lighting systems are designed to simply provide light while in others the lights themselves serve ornamental purposes even when they are not illuminated.
In many prior systems, lights are wired directly to an adjacent residence through underground power cables. However, underground cables require excessive labor to install and interfere with gardening and landscaping efforts, as they are dug up by tilling, planting, and the like. Other systems have used solar cells to collect electricity in batteries during daylight hours and then use the stored energy to power the lights at night. However, prior systems interfere with the purpose of the lighting system, which is principally aesthetic. The solar cells are prominently mounted to the top or sides of the lighting element and are therefore visible during daylight hours. As time passes, mineral deposits and fading often discolor the solar cell. Ultimately, the solar cell distracts from any ornamental qualities the lighting system was designed to have.
In view of the foregoing it would be an advancement in the art to provide a solar powered outdoor lighting system that may be prominently mounted without interfering with ornamental aspects of the lighting system and the surrounding landscape.